US-UK-Netherlands Cooperative Research: Relationships among Trophic Structure, Bioturbation and Organic Matter Preservation Across the Oxygen Minimum Zone on The Indus Margin

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0227511LevinThis two-year award for US-UK-Netherlands collaboration involves Lisa Levin of the University of California's Scripps Institution of Oceanography, Craig Smith of the University of Hawaii, Greg Cowie at the University of Edinburgh, Jack Middelburg of the Netherlands' Institute of Ecology and others. They propose to study biological and geochemical processes in oxygen minimum zones (OMZs). These are extreme and widely distributed ocean environments and deep-sea habitats. The proposed studies involve research cruises in the Indus Margin, where the OMZ intersects the sea floor. Through sediment sampling, the investigators will study impacts of low oxygen on food-web structure and dynamics, sediment geochemistry, and carbon burial. They will use stable-isotopic, radiochemical, biogeochemical and faunal measurements to characterize shifts in ecosystem functions and faunal adaptations along a seafloor transect. Sampling will take place at 6 stations (100-2000 m depth) ranging from fully oxic to permanently hypoxic conditions during monsoon and inter monsoon periods. The project takes advantage of British and Dutch complementary expertise. They will make numerous geochemical and biological measurements and provide the ship time. The collaboration will advance understanding of OMZ ecology and organic matter preservations. OMZs provide in situ laboratories of past climate conditions and as such, can enhance abilities to predict the impacts of global climate change on continental margins. These award covers travel funds and living expenses for the US investigators aboard the ocean research vessel and travel to the UK for laboratory analyses.